A known intake control valve apparatus (intake control valve) which includes a resin-made frame and a metal-made valve (valve body) is disclosed in JP2005-127252A (hereinafter referred to as Patent reference 1). The resin-made frame is formed with an opening portion (a fluid passage) which passes through a division wall dividing inside a surge tank into two portions. The metal-made valve (the valve body) pivots to selectively open the opening portion of the frame by an application of an actuator. According to the intake control valve apparatus disclosed in Patent reference 1, at a connection portion of the frame and the valve being disposed next to each other along a pivot axis, an one end of a metal-made pivot shaft is press-fitted into a shaft holding portion of the valve (a pivot shaft holding portion) which is formed in a bottomed cylindrical portion. A metal-made bearing bush is press-fitted into a bearing portion (a bearing holding portion) of the frame which is formed in a cylindrical through hole. Because the other end of the pivot shaft of the valve is positioned in a bearing bush provided at the frame, the valve is pivotally supported by the frame.
According to the intake control valve apparatus disclosed in Patent reference 1, because the bearing structure is configured such that the metal-made bearing bush is press-fitted into the bearing portion (the bearing holding portion) of the resin-made frame, the bearing portion of the frame is formed thick to prevent the resin-made frame from cracking caused by a difference in linear expansion coefficient between resin material and metal material. The thick bearing portion (the bearing holding portion) is formed in a shape which significantly protrudes from a surface of a portion of the frame, the portion being disposed close to the valve. The protruding shape of the thick bearing portion causes an increase of the resistance (an increase of the pressure loss) at the opening portion (the fluid passage). Accordingly, because the intake air amount flowing through the intake passage decreases in accordance with the increase of the flow resistance applied to the intake air when the valve (the valve body) is opened, sufficient supercharging effect cannot be obtained. In a case where the valve body is made from a resin material for upsizing the valve body (increasing the diameter of the fluid passage) and the bearing structure equivalent to the bearing structure applied to the aforementioned frame is applied to the valve body, the bearing portion of the valve is formed thick because the bearing bush is press-fitted into the bearing portion (the bearing holding portion).
A need thus exists for an intake control valve and an intake apparatus which are not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.